Three members publicly support campus gun ban while remaining members left in dark

CU student and student government co-director of legislative affairs, Julia Harrington, left, testifies her support for Colorado Rep. Claire Levy s bill to ban concealed weapons on college campuses at the State Capitol in Denver Feb. 13. Also shown are Levy, D-Boulder, is seated left of Harrington, followed by CU student government representatives and CUSG representatives Colin Sorensen and Tyler Quick. Remaining members of CUSG are expressing dismay about being left in the dark when Harrington, Sorensen and Quick gave testimony in Denver. Associated Press (Andy Cross)

Last week, three University of Colorado Student Government members vowed the administration's support for a house bill that would ban guns on Colorado campuses, leaving remaining CUSG members in the dark.

Tyler Quick, vice president of external affairs, Julia Harrington, co-director of legislative affairs, and Colin Sorensen, Legislative Council president, voiced their support of House Bill 1226 on Feb. 13 during a House meeting at the Capitol in Denver. The trio was the first to speak among a series of testimonies both for and against the bill, with all three stating they represented CUSG.

But, at the student group's legislative council meeting the very next day, some members raised concerns about the support that was given without their knowledge or input.

Representative-at-Large Alexis Scobie said the members who testified failed to inform the group about their plans.

"The real problem is that it didn't show complete transparency and we didn't know it was happening," Scobie said. "We would have liked to know that they were going and speaking, instead of having to read about it in papers the next day."

At the meeting in Denver, Quick urged the house to pass the bill, saying the CU community was "concerned and distracted by presence of concealed weapons on campus."

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Sorensen then gave statistics from a study conducted by CU's Presidents Leadership Class: 50 percent of students surveyed disagreed with the current law allowing concealed carry weapons on campus, 20 percent believed having a concealed gun would make them feel safer, and 30 percent said they were indifferent to the topic.

Quick said several notices were given to council members about the administration's support of the bill. However, Quick said he admits the date and time of the testimony was unknown until days before.

"We should have communicated the specifics better," Quick said, "but the members were invited to several events where they would have heard about the bill and had the opportunity to give feedback... but nobody attended."

Quick said he did state his support of the bill during a state of the campus address earlier this month to the legislative council.

In addition, Quick said CUSG had taken a stance on state bills since the fall semester, including a voter registration bill as well as the ASSET bill, which would give some undocumented students in-state tuition.

"We've been doing this since I took office and no one cared or asked to give any feedback until now," Quick said. "It's puzzling to us that they suddenly want to be involved."

All parties agreed that communication among CUSG members should improve.

Quick and Harrington apologized for a lack of communication, but Quick said as an executive member he does "not need council's consent to lobby on behalf of our administration."

While they are uncertain what will come from the incident, several CUSG members said they expect a resolution supporting the campus gun ban to be presented to the council later this semester.

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